Envelop



No. 6|8,632. Patented lan. 3|, |899.

H. il. Wil llrlansmslam AENVELCDP. (gpplicaion med Nov. 2, 1897.)

(No Model.)

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NITED STATES PATENT union.

HARRIT D. IVOLFERSBERGER, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

ENVELO P.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 618,632, dated January 31, 1899.

Application filed November 2, 1897. Serial No. 657,164. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, HARRY D. WoLFERs- BERGER, a citizen of the'United States, residing at Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Envelops, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in envelops, and has for its object to provide a mailing-cover not only of unusually strong construction, but which in addition thereto will admit of duplicate use, and it belongs, therefore, to that class designed particularly for carrying through the mails any paper, sample, fabric, or other articles requiring careful transmission, which may be used for the return ofthe inclosure to the sender.

In the method of its construction the invention is intended to meet the requirements of economy, simplicity, durability, and security; and with these ends in view the blank itself requires no cutting and avoids any `waste of material, the completed cover is readily manipulated, its parts are evenly distributed, the one protecting the other, the fastening is such that all the parts may be locked together, and the reversible flaps readily accommodate themselves to either side of the body portion. These elements of construction all contribute toward providing an envelop which is peculiarly fitted to protect its contents, while it furnishes the recipient with the means of return service. Envelope of this class, as far as I am aware, are deficient in certain respects in meeting the conditions to which I have referred and are therefore subject to improvement. Their reversible character maybe such as to result in a bulky accumulation of closing-flaps, on account of which there is an unequal distribution of the material, so that the contents are amply protected in the body of the envelop with a corresponding absence of protection at the corners, or the location and length of the supporting-strip limit its usefulness and subject it to displacement, or the nature of the closing-flap is such that more than one fastening is needed to completely seal the package, or the fastening may be of complicated design or insecure and in danger of accidental disconnection. These objections I have endeavored to obviate in my construction, which will be fully set forth in the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

Figure 1 is a View of the square blank from whichv the envelop is formed in accordance with my invention, with broken lines indicating folding places. Fig. 2 is a view of the blank folded on its diagonal line, bringing together corresponding parts on each side of such line, showingthe location of the supporting-strip and fastener. Fig. 3 isa View of the envelop closed, showing the arrangements of the flaps on the back and vertical direction of the supporting-strip between the layers of the closing-Hap; and Fig. 4 shows the front of the closed package on which is placed the address, with the free end of the supporting-strip bent and carried through the material as a fastener.

In constructing my invention I use a single piece of paper or other suitable material of the square shape shown in Fig. l, which requires no cutting to make the flaps usually needed in envelop formation, but which is merely folded upon itself, as shownby the dot-ted lines, to make in succession the. body portion and extensions, the end naps in position for closing, and the outside closing-flap ready for fastening, and in forming the body portion and extensions the blank is folded upon itself on its diagonal line, making the triangle shown in Fig. 2, the body being represented by A, the end flaps by C D, and the outside closing-flap by B. The article to be inclosed is placed between the parts A, and in order to determine the longitudinal limits of the body, give shape to the nished envelop, and afford a very strong fastening-ap the parts B, Fig. l, should be fastened together in` their entirety with mucilage. The end aps C and D are formed by folding the triangle on the perpendicular lines fr so, Fig.

2, and as these flaps are composed of two layers of material and will overlap, the end of the one may be placed between the layers of the other in order to give the envelop a neater appearance when closed. The package is closed by folding the flap B downward on the line y y, Fig. 2, which makes a refolding at the upper corners E E. The narrowed IOO free end 7L of the metal strip I-I with which such flap is supplied is bent and carried through little slits or openings in the material at F, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, and the end of the strip L is bent against the envelop on the opposite side, as shown in Fig. 4, which locks all the parts together and affords a secure fastening. The pocket of the envelop as thus formed completely protects the contents at all points, all the corners being of continuous material and all the sides and ends free from openings, so that it is impossible for dust or injurious matter to enter.

It has been stated that the outside closingi'iap B is supplied with a supporting-strip. This strip should be cut from iiexible sheet metal of such width as to be comparatively stiff without being bulky, while in length it should be somewhat longer than the Width of the body portion, and in attaching it to the triangular flap it should be placed between the two layers of material of which it is composed at the time they are being joined together with mucilage in such position that it will extend across the same from the center of its base-line to and beyond the vertex. In this location the strip serves not only to strengthen the closing-Hap, but it also materially supports the body of the envelop when closed, reduces the fastening-places to one, and permits the use of its extended end as a fastener for the package. The covered or inside end of the strip should iit snugly on the base-line of the iiap, while near the outer or exposed end it should be narrowed and trimmed, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, both for convenient manipulation and to provide an irregularity in outline about which the material may be wrapped or fastened in such manner as to assist in preventing the accidental escape of the strip from its pocket.

In cases in which a metal strip has been used .in envelops as a means of support or as a fastening the construction requires two extended ends of such strip. In my invention the peculiarity of the fastening is found not only in the use of but one extended end, so that the closing of the package is confined to one locality, but also in the fact that provision is made for locking together all the parts of the envelop, so that the accidental opening of the package is impossible. This result cannot be secured merely with a strip having two projecting ends adapted to be bent around the ends or edges of the envelop, as any rough or unusual handling of the package would tend either to bend the envelop itself away from the projecting ends or would shift the bended ends out of their proper location, and thus expose the contents to loss or damage. -Moreover, in its supported` location with both ends locked the greatest.

advantage is secured from the combination, as the strip cannot be moved laterally from its proper position by any strain on the parts of the envelop.

In order to facilitate the locking of the parts,

narrow slits or openings should bc provided in the end iaps C and D and body portion A, as at Fin Fig. 2, which should be so placed as to register with each other and with the narrowed end h of the supporting-strip Il, when the parts are brought together in the act of closing, and they should be only large enough to admit the end of such strip and of sufficient distance from theV edge of the envolop as to guard against a tearing of the vmaterial by any ordinary handling.

It will be noted that the three closing-flaps and body portion are so related that the flaps may be folded against either side of the body, the adjustment being the same whichever way the envelop is folded, so that after it has been used with an address on one side of the rectangular body portion the opposite side thereof may be folded out to receive a second address, thus easily adapting the envelop for duplicate use, and this result is secured without the necessity of turning the entire envelop inside out, as is generally required in devices of reversible character, so that a clean portion of the covering is always reserved for the returned inclosure. It will also be noted that the construction is such that there is a comparatively even distribution of the material and that the closingflap extends practically over the entire width of the body portion, both factors contributing largely to the durability of the envelop. Furthermore, the duplication of the material coupled with the folding thereof to form the different parts in such manner that the free ends and edges of the flap portions overlap each other making the corners very strong, particularly the upper corners, where there is also a refolding when the outside closing-flap is fastened. This feature of the construction,

which is a most important one, is frequently neglected in devising an envelop intended for the carriage of valuable articles. The corners on account of their exposed locations are easily subject to such accidents as may result from careless handling during transmission, and in my construction they are fortified not only by the duplication of the mate rial, but also by the absence of exposed edges of flap extensions which meet at such points, and being disconnected are unable to support each other.

I am aware of the fact that a metal strip has been used heretofore to support or fasten an envelop, and I do not therefore claim, in a broad sense, the combination of an envelop with a met-al strip; but it seems to me that the combinations thereof which have been contrived do not show the best results possible, and, believing that the constructions here presented are in the nature of improvements,

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is*

l. An envelop constructed from a square blank consisting of a single piece of material folded upon itself diagonally to form a trian- IOS IIO

gle, comprising two layers of such material, said blank being again folded twice perpendicularly and once longitudinally to form the rectangular body portion having end extensions of equal dimensions, and a side exten' sion of larger proportions, such three extensions constituting the closing-iiaps, the sideextension or larger closing-flap being of such size and width as to extend entirely or almost entirely across the body portion when the parts are folded together, substantially as shown and specified.

2. An envelop constructed from a square blank folded upon itself diagonally to form a triangle, such blank being again folded twice perpendicularly and once longitudinally to form a rectangular body portion having three extensions constituting the closing-flaps, said iaps folding inwardly upon the body portion in such a manner that the free edges of the larger closing-Hap will overlap the free inside edges of the other two, by which the envelop is reinforced at the corners, substantially as shown and specified.

3. An envelop constructed from a square blank folded upon itself diagonally to form a triangle, such triangle being again folded twice perpendicularly andagain on an intermediate line parallel with the base-line and intersecting approximately the center of /its longest perpendicular, the portion below such parellel line constituting the pocket or body portion and end flaps, and the portion above said line constituting the outside closing-flap, said closing-flap being formed of two layers of material fastened together in their entiretywith mucilage, substantially as shown and specified.

4. An envelop constructed from a square blank folded upon itself diagonally forming atriangle, suchtriangle being again folded twice perpendicularly and again on au intermediate line parallel with the base-line and intersecting approximately the center of its longest perpendicular, the portion below such parallel line constituting the pocket or body portion and end flaps, and the portion above said line constituting the outside closing-flap, said flap being formed of two layers of material fastened together in their entirety with mucilage, a strip of flexible or bendable metal being inclosed between such joined layers in such manner as to extend across said closing-flap from the center of its line of junction with the body portion to and beyond the point of the opposite angle, a portion of said strip being narrowed or trimmed, andl the end vliaps and body portion being provided with narrow slits or openings which register with each other and with the metal strip when the parts are folded together in such manner that the exposed end thereof may be carried through the slits or openings in the material, and be bent against the opposite side of the envelop as a fastener, substantially as shown andspecilied.

5.- 'lhe combination with an envelop having reversible flaps, and slits or openings in two flaps oppositely disposed, of a metal strip connected with the outside closing-Hap as a fastener, one end of said strip extending beyond the edge of the iiap and adapted t0 be passed through the openings in the other naps, and bent against the opposite side of the envelop, whereby all the parts are fastened together. l

6. A duplicate envelop constructed from a single piece of material of square shape folded upon itself diagonally -to form a triangle comprising a rectangular body portion having angular closing-flaps, said flaps adapted to be folded upon and connected to either side of the body portion, whereby the envelop will admit of duplicate use, said envelop comprising two layers of material, the layers composing the larger or outside closing-hap being suitably fastened together in their entirety with adhesive matter, and inclosing between them a lmetal strip of flexible material adapted to support the flap, one end of said strip extending beyond the limits of the flap and adapted to be passed through registering openings in the other iiaps and body portion whereby all the parts of the envelop may be locked together and fastened, substantially as shown and specified.

7. The square blank consisting of a single piece of material to construct the envelop described herein, folded upon itself diagonally to form a triangle, the lower angular portions of such triangle being folded inwardly on perpendicular lines, until they partially overlap, and the upper angular portion folded downward on a line parallel with the base with its free edges overlapping the open edges of the folded end portions, forming an envelop having a body portion or pocket of rectangular shape, substantially as shown and specified.

In witness whereof hand.

HARRY D. VOLFERSBERGER.

lVitnesses:

Trios. L 'LIPsETn JOHN F. McCoY.

I have hereunto set my IIO 

